CAMINO DEL OLEODUCTO (Pipeline Road) PARQUE NACIONAL SOBERANIA
PANAMA
GAMBOA (Compass)
Lat:00o00´S/00o00´W ha topography msl
Protected/registered status
Best Time for visit (15-16th March, 2005)
Birding Site Guide
This site is easily reached by public transport from Panama City. Orange buses leave hourly (?) from next to the Legislative Palace from 5:30 am. It takes 30 mins to an hour depending on traffic. The first bus is quite quick. From Gamboa. Keep walking straight along the road for a few hundred metres. Bear right at a bend in the road and then turn left onto a gravel track. The road only carries on for a short while after that anyway and ends in a barb-wire gate and security guards with guns. Turning left you will see a sign reading 'Camino del Oleoducto'. Follow the road around and you will come to the gate where someone may sell you a ticket ($3). I birded the pipeline road twice and only paid once. The road has great birding but the better forest is further along. I walked 6 kms along the first day and 10km the next seeing a few different species further along. I failed to see all my target species: Plumbeus Hawk, Great Curassow or Harpy Eagle. Another birder I met had seen a juvenile Harpy recently that had been reintroduced. I did however see an antswarm with Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo, Spotted, Ocellated & Bicolored Antbirds. I saw 114 species including 25 lifers.
Species seen
- Great Tinamou h Tinamus major
- Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis
- Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens
- Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
- Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
- Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
- Osprey Pandion haliaetus
- Double-toothed Kite Harpagus bidentatus
- Yellow-headed Caracara Milvago chimachima
- Gray-headed Chachalaca Ortalis cinereiceps
- White-throated Crake h Laterallus albigularis
- Purple Gallinule Porphyrio martinica
- Wattled Jacana Jacana jacana
- Laughing Gull Larus atricilla
- Pale-vented Pigeon Patagioenas cayennensis
- Short-billed Pigeon Patagioenas nigrirostris
- Ruddy Ground-Dove Columbina talpacoti
- Blue Ground-Dove ? Claravis pretiosa
- White-tipped Dove Leptotila verreauxi
- Gray-chested Dove Leptotila cassini
- Orange-chinned Parakeet Brotogeris jugularis
- Blue-headed Parrot Pionus menstruus
- Mealy Parrot Amazona farinosa
- Squirrel Cuckoo Piaya cayana
- Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo Neomorphus geoffroyi
- Band-rumped Swift ? Chaetura spinicaudus
- Short-tailed Swift Chaetura brachyura
- Western Long-tailed Hermit Phaethornis longirostris
- Little Hermit
- Violet-crowned Woodnymph Thalurania colombica
- Violet-bellied Hummingbird Damophila julie
- Black-throated Trogon Trogon rufus
- Slaty-tailed Trogon Trogon massena
- Ringed Kingfisher Ceryle torquata
- Rufous Motmot Baryphthengus martii
- Broad-billed Motmot Electron platyrhynchum
- Great Jacamar Jacamerops aureus
- White-whiskered Puffbird Malacoptila panamensis
- Keel-billed Toucan Ramphastos sulfuratus
- Black-mandibled Toucan Ramphastos ambiguus
- Red-crowned Woodpecker Melanerpes rubricapillus
- Cinnamon Woodpecker Celeus loricatus
- Crimson-crested Woodpecker Campephilus melanoleucos
- Plain-brown Woodcreeper Dendrocincla fuliginosa
- Long-tailed Woodcreeper Deconychura longicauda
- Northern Barred-Woodcreeper Dendrocolaptes sanctithomae
- Buff-throated Woodcreeper Xiphorhynchus guttatus
- Black-striped Woodcreeper Xiphorhynchus lachrymosus
- Fasciated Antshrike Cymbilaimus lineatus
- Western Slaty-Antshrike Thamnophilus atrinucha
- Spot-crowned Antvireo Dysithamnus puncticeps
- Pygmy Antwren Myrmotherula brachyura
- Checker-throated Antwren Myrmotherula fulviventris
- White-flanked Antwren Myrmotherula axillaris
- Dot-winged Antwren Microrhopias quixensis
- Dusky Antbird Cercomacra tyrannina
- White-bellied Antbird Myrmeciza longipes
- Chestnut-backed Antbird Myrmeciza exsul
- Bicolored Antbird Gymnopithys leucaspis
- Spotted Antbird Hylophylax naevioides
- Ocellated Antbird Phaenostictus mcleannani
- Black-faced Antthrush Formicarius analis
- Streak-chested Antpitta h Hylopezus perspicillatus
- Purple-throated Fruitcrow Querula purpurata
- Golden-collared Manakin Manacus vitellinus
- Southern Bentbill Oncostoma olivaceum
- Common Tody-Flycatcher Todirostrum cinereum
- Olivaceous Flatbill Rhynchocyclus olivaceus
- Yellow-olive Flycatcher ? Tolmomyias sulphurescens
- Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher Terenotriccus erythrurus
- Bright-rumped Attila Attila spadiceus
- Dusky-capped Flycatcher Myiarchus tuberculifer
- Social Flycatcher Myiozetetes similis
- Streaked Flycatcher Myiodynastes maculatus
- Piratic Flycatcher Legatus leucophaius
- Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus
- Fork-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus savana
- Sapayoa Sapayoa aenigma
- Masked Tityra h Tityra semifasciata
- Gray-breasted Martin Progne chalybea
- Mangrove Swallow Tachycineta albilinea
- Southern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx ruficollis
- Barn Swallow ? Hirundo rustica
- Bay Wren Thryothorus nigricapillus
- White-breasted Wood-Wren Henicorhina leucosticta
- Scaly-breasted Wren Microcerculus marginatus
- Song Wren Cyphorhinus phaeocephalus
- Tropical Mockingbird Mimus gilvus Introduced
- Clay-colored Robin Turdus grayi
- Long-billed Gnatwren Ramphocaenus melanurus
- Lesser Greenlet Hylophilus decurtatus
- Golden-winged Warbler Vermivora chrysoptera
- Yellow Warbler ? Dendroica petechia
- Chestnut-sided Warbler Dendroica pensylvanica
- Bay-breasted Warbler Dendroica castanea
- Northern Waterthrush Seiurus noveboracensis
- Kentucky Warbler Oporornis formosus
- Gray-headed Tanager Eucometis penicillata
- White-shouldered Tanager Tachyphonus luctuosus
- Red-throated Ant-Tanager Habia fuscicauda
- Crimson-backed Tanager Ramphocelus dimidiatus
- Blue-gray Tanager Thraupis episcopus
- Palm Tanager Thraupis palmarum
- Yellow-crowned Euphonia Euphonia luteicapilla
- Thick-billed Euphonia Euphonia laniirostris
- Plain-colored Tanager Tangara inornata
- Blue Dacnis Dacnis cayana
- Red-legged Honeycreeper Cyanerpes cyaneus
- Variable Seedeater Sporophila corvina
- Yellow-bellied Seedeater Sporophila nigricollis
- Buff-throated Saltator Saltator maximus
- Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
- Scarlet-rumped Cacique Cacicus uropygialis
- Chestnut-headed Oropendola Psarocolius wagleri
Other Fauna
A total of -- species of mammals.
There are -- recorded species of amphibians and reptiles.
Flora
Author: Charles Hesse
www.birdingsiteguide.com